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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Writer
Abroad would like to take a moment to celebrate 2014. It was a big year in many
ways. She published her first book, which has sold almost 1200 copies since
May. She secured a distribution deal with one of the publishers that
originally rejected the manuscript. She wrote for several new publications,
including Brian Child, CNN Travel, and Fodor’s. And oh yeah, she changed continents. At least for the time being.

In any
case, 2014 taught Writer Abroad a lot. Mainly, that success as a writer is up
to you. You can wait for others to decide to offer you something. Or you can create your own luck in 2015 and make your dreams come true yourself.

For Writer Abroad, it took ten years of
writing, ten years of making contacts, ten years of learning about promotion
and advertising, and ten years of learning about the publishing industry before
she felt ready for Book Number One. And that’s the other lesson: in a world
where publishing is more accessible than ever, patience is key. Publishing when
you’re not ready can do more harm than good. But if you are ready, Writer
Abroad says this: 2015 is waiting for you to take success into your own hands. Won’t
you join her in pursuing it?

Friday, December 12, 2014

Finally, a gift guide that includes
new books written by expats (or former expats). Below is a
short list of books published within the last year by writers who
have previously been featured on this website. The list is organized by the
country the writers used to live in (or still currently live in).

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Here’s where Writer Abroad has been finding
information and inspiration over

the last couple weeks:

Beautiful
essay by Jennifer
Berney in Literary Mama about moving in an attempt to find the right place. Writer Abroad recently moved as well, and can relate to
the essay’s non-conclusion. Is there ever a location that’s perfect? What do you
think?

A new book,
Windows
on the World, by Matteo Pericoli, features the views of fifty writers around
the world along with short essays about what the writer sees. Would make a
great Christmas gift.

Feeling
nostalgic about her former adopted country, Writer Abroad couldn’t help but
fall in love with the photography
of Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini, who captured Swiss social clubs in
all of their glory. From the Pigeon Fanciers’ Club to the Knitting Club, these
photographs tell one of the best stories of the Swiss people Writer Abroad has
seen for a long time. She wonders what an American version would look like.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

After living abroad for over eight years and then going back to the US, it's easy to see all the strange things there are about home. Writer Abroad would explain a few of them here, and she's writing an entire book about them now, but here's a preview told in pictures.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Writer Abroad couldn't help but relate to the following post, written by Jill Boyles.I don’t know what
to do with myself. After having lived in Poland for almost two years, my
husband and I returned to the USA. Mind you, I’ve lived abroad before, Turkey
and China, and flew home to visit family and friends with the knowledge that I
was going back. This time, I don’t know if I’ll ever go overseas again and
writing that halts my breath. Breathe . .

Two days ago, I
opened a memo application on my computer, and a to-do list popped up, which I
had written while living in Warsaw. A reminder of who I was then:an expat. A reminder of who I am now:an ex-expat. I was formerly absent from my
country but not anymore. I’m present to drive to the store, to fold the laundry,
to take the trash to the curb. During my absence, I walked across Plac Defilad
with snow falling on park benches and lampposts, illuminating a dark, winter
evening made warmer from the steamy kebab stand, the meat’s pungent scent
pricking my nose.

I have a travel blog
I started last year but don’t know what to do with it. My husband and friends
encourage me to continue. Travels in the US, they say. I give this much
thought, but writing about the States feels disingenuous, like I’m pulling the
wool over my readers’ eyes. In truth, I would be disingenuous to myself. I’m no
longer that person writing about this; I’m now this person writing about that. Last
month, I deleted a post and submitted it for publication.

After I had
arrived home from China, my dad asked if I wanted to go to a baseball game. I
said that I’d rather watch a Chinese man pee in a bush – a common sight in the
part of China where I had lived. His face cracked like porcelain. My intention
was not to hurt him, but the mention of going to yet another baseball game,
well . . . been there, done that. Fresh from China, I craved exciting
experiences. Something I wanted my dad to understand. Instead, I sounded like a
petulant child. I can never take back that moment.

Traveling
familial territory is treacherous. The terrain dips in ways you never expect.

I’m about to move
to a new state at the opposite end of the country. I’ll have trouble adjusting,
and this frightens me. Different accent, different behavior, different climate.
I search for the fearless, adventurous woman who lived and worked in other
countries, who spoke with vowel harmony, tones and seven cases. It’s different
here, not fitting in with your own people. Not like over there, where not
fitting in is a faded, oversized sweater worn on weekends.

The speaker in
Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “One Art” tells us “the art of losing isn’t hard to
master.” A laundry list of lost items like keys, a mother’s watch, houses, and
continents are met with the assurance that these losses aren’t disasters, not
even losing a loved one.

Unlike Bishop, I haven’t lost a beloved although in some ways it feels like it. What
I am doing is practicing the art of losing. When I want to say nie, I say no. When I want to catch the
server’s attention to add ice to my drink, I put my hand down. When I correspond with overseas friends, I pause and look about me: I am here, in this room, in this country.

Jill
Boyles is a writer from Minnesota, USA. Her work has appeared in The Minnesota
Women’s Press and Focus on Dalian,
among other publications. Her blog is finding-place.com. The deleted blog post mentioned in this
blog post will be in the November issue of Calliope
Magazine.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Less than a
week ago, Writer Abroad became Writer at Home. After almost a decade in
Switzerland, she has moved back to the USA and is maybe staying awhile. Maybe.

She says “maybe”
because thanks to Swiss bureaucracy, she has been granted a two-year leave to
take care of some family issues. She’s not sure how it will go. Or how she will
like “home” after being away for so long. So far she likes the friendliness and
the taffy apples but dislikes the lack of walking and the obsession with
football.

Writer at
Home knows "home" won’t be easy. In fact, research shows it is harder to move home
than it is to move abroad. The “Repatriation Blues” are a reality. In fact, Alan Paul wrote
an entire column in
the Wall Street Journal about them.

Writer at
Home wonders if these blues differ when one has an open door to return? Will it
make things harder as it means her return “home” might not be final? Or will it
make it easier to know the option of returning abroad is there? Only time and
this blog will tell.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever
produced the expression "As pretty as an airport." Airports are ugly.
Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the
result of a special effort. -Douglas Adams

As an American expat living in Switzerland, where my husband was
recently hired as a professor, I rely a lot on travel literature. I am still
new to living abroad, and Switzerland is close to so many other countries that
the Swiss consider a weekend not spent visiting Italy, France or Spain to be
wasted. But reading travel blogs and books makes me feel guilty, because I know
I am an imposter. While on paper I appear to be a travel-loving,
adventure-craving explorer of foreign lands and cultures, I am actually a
quiet, anxious introvert who adheres to routine the way some adhere to religion
or veganism. I am a traveler who finds it difficult to travel, a homebody
seldom at home, an adventuring hobbit. I am an "anti-expat," and I
know I am not alone. My goal in writing this post and my blog, the Scrappy Traveler, is to train a spotlight on the anti-expat audience and provide examples
of helpful anti-expat information and resources.

Living abroad out of happenstance--as a trailing spouse or as a
professional relocated for a job, for example--raises a number of issues. For
anti-expats, travel and life abroad are skills that must be strengthened
through conscious effort, because we have not been blessed with wanderlust or
an innate desire to leave home. This can be embarrassing to admit, because
who doesn't love travel (or at least list it as an interest on
Facebook)? Travel is the cornerstone of every bucket list, vacation and
free giveaway. Saying you find travel difficult is like saying you don't
care for puppies or happiness. For me, anti-expat life has meant packing
up my things and moving permanently outside my comfort zone. But it has also
brought daily learning, discovery and profound growth beyond my expectations.

Anti-expats must learn how to strike a balance between adapting to new
cultural norms, and hanging onto old ways. I've found that keeping some
familiar habits, at least temporarily, can help ease stress: for example,
ordering takeout or buying only familiar foodstuffs for awhile before
attempting to cook the local cuisine. I am proud to finally be at the stage
where I only need to resort to Switzerland's American Food Market for peanut
butter - a product that Europeans simply don't understand, despite their
mastery of hazelnut spread (seriously, you can buy Nutella by the kilo here).
But it's important for anti-expats to recognize where diving into the local way
of doing things right away will make life abroad much easier. If living in
Europe, chances are it will be less stressful to ditch the commute-by-car habit
as soon as possible and learn the local train, bus, or metro schedule.

Making new friends may be the most challenging aspect of anti-expat
life. Natural travelers often have a knack for feeling comfortable enough in a
second language, whether they have mastered the basics or not, to strike up a
conversation with a stranger and go with the flow. They don't mind using a bit
of sign language or making a few grammatical errors as long as they get their
point across, and they enjoy the excitement of meeting new people. Before long,
they’ve developed a network of friends who know the area and can provide advice
and support. For anti-expats, learning the language as soon as possible is key,
because the sooner one can say "please" and "thank
you" and "how do I sign up for health
insurance?" in the native tongue, the more connections it will be
possible to make. Unfortunately, shyness can be an impediment to travel
even within one's own country, but when foreign languages get thrown into the
mix, social interaction can become nothing short of terrifying. If moving
abroad for professional reasons, many companies will finance formal language
classes, but for others this option may be too expensive or time-consuming. A
fantastic way for anti-expats to become more comfortable speaking outside the
classroom is to find someone who speaks the desired language as his or her
mother tongue, who also wants to learn English as a second language (in my
area, this program is called Tandem). This person
could be a friend or co-worker, or a connection made through an online ad. But
anti-expats should not discount the importance of traditional learning to
supplement conversation practice: for this purpose, I can't recommend the
app Duolingo highly
enough.

Expat communities can also be wonderful resources for making friends,
and finding groups of people with similar interests and backgrounds online is
very easy. However, it is important for anti-expats to make sure they supplement
time spent in expat activities with efforts to meet local people. Identifying
inexpensive, low-key, flexibly scheduled classes or workshops focused on a
favorite hobby can be a great way to for anti-expats to accomplish this, as can
engaging in volunteer work.

Travel Writers Abroad, take note: there is an audience out there eager
for information about travel, but not necessarily for the same reasons as
traditional consumers of travel literature. These people may not find
living abroad easy or natural, but they still find it worth doing, and targeted
resources are essential. Rather than the Top 10 Places to Eat in Tallinn or the
Most Scenic Bike Routes through Scotland, anti-expats are more likely to want
to read about the Top 10 Tips for Budgeting in Two Currencies or Least
Stressful Weekend Activities in Geneva. Perhaps these topics seem boring when
there are so many places to see and things to do, but for an anti-expat, they
can make all the difference in helping a reluctant traveler find their way in
the world.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

When Writer
Abroad used to dream about life as a travel writer, she imagined glamour. And more glamour. Oh, the free meals she would eat. Ah, the overnight stays she would enjoy. And yes, all those airline
miles she’d acquire.

The reality
is much different. Especially if you’re a travel writer who writes about Switzerland.

The Swiss
laws of economics and commerce don’t really apply to the rest of the world. If
you need evidence, go to a Swiss flea market and try to buy a garden gnome for less
than $50. The seller won’t budge on the price—they seem to not care whether
they sell the gnome or not.

Which
brings Writer Abroad to life as a travel writer in Switzerland. Most Swiss
establishments don’t appear to care that Writer Abroad is writing about them and therefore
bringing them business. In their minds, they already have enough business and
don’t see the point of more.

The first
time Writer Abroad’s request for information was ignored by a Swiss
establishment, she was pretty surprised. She is no longer surprised by these
non-responses–or even by negative responses. Last week on a research outing she was pretty much told by one annoyed
bakery owner that he didn’t have time for her even though he had agreed to meet
with her. Swiss hotels consistently ignore Writer Abroad’s requests for images of their hotels
even if they are going to be displayed on a website that gets a million
eyeballs a day.

So. To
those who search for the glamour in travel writing, let Writer Abroad be the
first to tell you that there is none, except to say if you truly love travel and you
truly love writing, then it is still the best job in the world.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Here's to the independents. The ones who believe in themselves and their artistic endeavors. The ones who turn marketing into a creative project as big as the one they are selling. The brave ones who say no to seven figure deals and yes to autonomy.

Writer Abroad's logo of independence

Today is American Independence Day. Let's celebrate the independents. Ira Glass is giving us a great reason to celebrate. Thanks to him, indie fever is spreading beyond book publishing and into radio and broadcasting. Ira Glass's "This American Life" left Public Radio International. And turned down a huge deal from NPR. As of July 1, the show is independent.Independent.Writer Abroad couldn't be prouder to be a part of the new class of independents. Are we all crazy? Maybe. Maybe not. But the ones who have the confidence to go ahead and create without the world approving us first are just the ones who might take that world and redefine it.Happy Independence Day from Writer Abroad.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Today marks
Writer Abroad’s eighth anniversary of being an American writer in
Switzerland. To celebrate, she’d like to list eight reasons it’s great to live
abroad as a writer.

One: Living
abroad improves creativity. Research from INSEAD proves this.

Two: You’ll
differentiate yourself. Abroad, you’ll find you have unique skills in the
marketplace—especially if you’re living in a country where English is not an
official language.

Eight years after moving to Switzerland: Writer Abroad's first book signing

Three:
You’ll understand where you came from. If you never leave your country of
birth, you’ll never see it clearly because you’ll never have anything to
compare it with.

Four:
You’ll learn to take initiative. With no English-language writing instruction
in Zurich, for example, Writer Abroad had to offer it herself by founding the
Zurich Writers Workshop or it wouldn’t exist. Bonus? Now she has event planning
skills too.

Five:
You’ll learn new skills. Besides event planning, Writer Abroad has learned to
diversify her skills because living abroad gave her those opportunities. German to English
advertising adaptations, proofreading, editing non-native English, travel
writing, blogging…and the list continues.

Six: Isolation.
Writer Abroad knows it helps her get more done. Writing can also be an escape
from the pressures of living in a place where you’re not fluent in the local
language too. It makes you prolific.

Seven: Inspiration.
Stories come naturally when crazy things happen to you every day.

Eight: You’ll
never have to think “what if?” Most writers have romantic notions of living
abroad. While the reality can be much less romantic, living in another country is
still a rite of passage for many writers. Why think about it when you can do
it?

Thursday, June 5, 2014

It took
until last week to realize it, but here is something all of Writer Abroad’s favorite
authors have in common: one-star reviews on amazon.

These are
fantastic, funny, and talented writers. And they endure a seemingly endless wave of crappy
reader reviews.

How did
Writer Abroad come to this conclusion? Well, she got her first one-star review
last week. And she’s not going to lie—seeing it for the first time was kind of
like being punched in the gut.

But what
helped ease the pain as quickly as it arrived was realizing that all of her
favorite authors had one-star reviews too. All of them. Put your work out there
and there is only one guarantee: it’s going to get everything from a one-star
review to a five-star review.

Why?
Because we all like to read different things and we all have different
backgrounds and senses of humor. There’s a book for everyone but not everyone
will like a book. It’s reality. One person loves David Sedaris. Another doesn’t
get his humor at all.

And often
people who give reviews haven’t even read the book they are reviewing, so they
can’t be taken too seriously. One person who recently left a review for Writer
Abroad gave her book five stars but said in the review that they hadn’t even
read it yet. So there you have it. Good and bad on both ends of the non-reader reviewers of your book.

However,
most writers, by the time they have actually published a book, are pros at
rejection and humiliation. Writer Abroad has been through enough in the last
ten years as a writer to know that if you want to be a writer, you must have two
things: courage to put your writing out in the world and a thick skin to
survive its existence in the public sphere.

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About Me

I’m an American writer who moved to Switzerland in 2006 and am now back in the US to determine if I can live anywhere else after being in a country filled with cheese, chocolate, and people who can pronounce my name. The author of Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I'd Known www.swisslifebook.com, and 99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local www.swisstravelbook.com, I have written about Switzerland for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN Travel, and many other publications.
Visit: www.chantalpanozzo.com

Copyright 2009 Chantal Panozzo. All content is sole property of the author and may not be reproduced in any form without permission. (But linking is welcome). Please contact the author for syndication or reprint inquiries.